Japan Pitches Its High-Speed Train

New York Times, Business, Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Japan Pitches Its High-Speed Train With an Offer to Finance, by Eric Pfanner

Tsuru, Japan–“As the world’s fastest train raced through central Japan, former Gov. George E. Pataki of New York hoisted his 6-foot-5 frame into the aisle and marveled at the smoothness of the ride…’This is amazing. The future.’

The future for Japan, perhaps. For the United States, the future is less clear. Mr. Pataki and other former American politicians were in Japan Saturday for a special test ride of the train, which uses a technology called magnetic, or maglev. They are trying to bring a maglev train to the crowded Northeast Corridor that will cruise between New York and Washington at more than twice the 150-mile-an-hour top speed of Amtrak’s Acela, the fastest train int the United States.

Maglev trains could make the journey in an hour, compared with just under three hours, on a good day, for Acela…

‘In the past, the United States led the way in transport technology,’ said Yoshiyuki Kasai, the company’s chairman, at the control center of the maglev test track here. ‘Now the U.S. transportation infrastructure is in bad shape. This time, why don’t the U.S.A. and Japan lead the world together?”

The baseball season is over here in the United States, but pitching is still going on without pitchers on the mound.